Slayton acknowledges it’s “definitely” encouraging he has earned his quarterback’s and coaches’ trust so quickly to earn regular playing time. But he said that’s why he’s so disappointed he didn’t deliver on Monday Night Football.

“That’s part of why it feels terrible to lose,” said Slayton, who had one catch for six yards on 49 pass snaps. “You feel like you have a great responsibility, a chance to have an impact on the game, and you want to have a positive one. And I just felt like I could have done a lot better job, and I plan to do that in the future.”

Darius Slayton has moved into a starting role in the absence of Sterling Shepard. (Paul Sancya/AP)

This is exactly the attitude every young Giants player in a prominent position should have entering Sunday’s must-win (for self-respect’s sake) against the pathetic Jets (1-7).

The Giants (2-7) may be young, but it’s Week 10, they’ve lost five in a row, they are being counted on, and there are no reinforcements coming. This is it.

Veteran receiver Golden Tate, therefore, loved hearing Slayton’s accountable attitude, even though Tate didn’t think Slayton played as poorly as the rookie made it sound.

“We all go through it at some point, but I’m glad that’s the way he sees it,” Tate said. “You should always be your own worst critic. Always. So the fact he takes that to heart shows that he has a high standard. But he’s a big part of this team, a very explosive guy, and as a rookie at some point it happens, you’re gonna have a game that’s not your best.

“And I don’t think he played horrific. I don’t think he played awful,” Tate added. “Give us two plays back and we’re not even having this discussion. He’s gonna bounce back, and don’t be surprised if he catches three tuddies (touchdowns) this week.”

Tate, who was a vocal critic after Monday’s sloppy 37-18 bludgeoning by the Cowboys, said the entire Giants team needs to be better at moving on from mistakes rather than dwelling on them.

“One thing we all have to work on is we’ve got to have a short-term memory,” Tate said. “When we make mistakes, we’ve got to find a way to move it out of our minds and move forward so it doesn’t pile up.”

And that is exactly what Slayton is doing: learning from his mistakes and focusing on correcting them for Sunday’s final game before the bye.

Slayton, for example, said he could have helped Daniel Jones out more on the rookie QB’s late first-half interception deep down the field intended for Slayton.

“If I had gotten my head around a little quicker I’d be able to find the ball and if not make a play on the ball at least prevent it from getting it intercepted,” Slayton said. “Anytime you take a shot like that, once the ball’s in the air it’s kind of on the receiver to some degree to either complete it or make it incomplete to anybody other than yourself.”

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Slayton said he was focused on trying to beat the corner, which made him late getting his eyes up to the ball.

He also had a drop on first down on that same drive, and a false start that helped kill the Giants’ first drive of the third quarter. The false start is a mental lapse.

The drop isn’t in Slayton’s head, but he does have one in two straight games and three on the season, so he said he’ll do whatever it takes to correct it.

“It was a well-timed ball, but I turned and it was just there,” Slayton said of Jones’ throw that he couldn’t handle. “But for me it’s more of thing putting in more work, get on the jugs machine, come in on an off day, stay longer. Because it’s not a thing that’s the end of the world, but for me you‘ve got to make sure you do a little bit more.”

Doing more. That’s what Slayton is doing. That is what every Giant needs to be doing to prevent the ultimate embarrassment on Sunday.